Gaming systems that provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. These gaming systems generally require a player to place a wager to activate a play of the primary game. For many of these gaming systems, any award provided to a player for a wagered-on play of a primary game is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or a winning symbol combination and on an amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the amount of the wager, the higher the award). Winning symbols or winning symbol combinations that are less likely to occur typically result in larger awards being provided when they do occur.
For such known gaming systems, an amount of a wager placed on a primary game by a player may vary. For instance, a gaming system may enable a player to wager a minimum quantity of credits, such as one credit (e.g., in monetary currency, one penny, nickel, dime, quarter, or dollar; in non-monetary currency, one point, credit, coin, token, free play credit, or virtual buck), up to a maximum quantity of credits, such as five credits. The gaming system may enable the player to place this wager a single time or multiple times for a single play of the primary game. For instance, a gaming system configured to operate a slot game may have one or more paylines, and the gaming system may enable a player to place a wager on each of the paylines for a single play of the slot game. Thus, it is known that a gaming system, such as one configured to operate a slot game, may enable players to place wagers of substantially different amounts on each play of a primary game. For example, the amounts of the wagers may range from one credit up to 125 credits (e.g., five credits on each of twenty-five separate paylines). This is also true for other wagering games, such as video draw poker, in which players can place wagers of one or more credits on each hand, and in which multiple hands can be played simultaneously. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that different players play at substantially different wager amounts or levels and substantially different rates of play.
Bonus or secondary games are also known in gaming systems. Such gaming systems usually provide an award to a player for a play of one such bonus game in addition to any awards provided for any plays of any primary games. Bonus games usually do not require an additional wager to be placed by the player to be initiated. Bonus games are typically initiated or triggered upon an occurrence of a designated triggering symbol or designated triggering symbol combination in the primary game. For instance, a gaming system may initiate or trigger a bonus game when a bonus symbol occurs on the payline on the third reel of a three reel slot machine. The gaming systems generally indicates when a bonus game is initiated or triggered through one or more visual and/or audio output devices, such as the reels, lights, speakers, display screens, etc. Part of the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain gaming systems is the initiation or triggering of a bonus game, even before the player knows an amount of a bonus award won via the bonus game.
Generally, there are three ways in which a player can engage in wager-based gaming: (1) the player can travel to a brick-and-mortar gaming establishment and play a wagering game on an electronic gaming machine (EGM) (i.e., the player can engage in land-based gaming); (2) the player can use the player's Internet-connected personal computer to access a web-based or online gaming establishment and play one or more wagering games hosted by the web-based gaming establishment (i.e., the player can engage in online gaming); and (3) the player can execute an application installed on the player's Internet- or mobile network-connected mobile device (such as a smartphone or a tablet computing device) that enables the player to play one or more wagering games hosted by a mobile gaming server (i.e., the player can engage in mobile gaming).
Each of these ways in which a player can engage in wager-based gaming has unique pros and cons. One benefit of mobile gaming is that most players who own a mobile device will carry their mobile device with them throughout the day, which makes it convenient for those players to engage in mobile gaming wherever and whenever they want (provided they have access to an Internet connection or a mobile network connection).
One downside to mobile gaming is that the graphics capabilities, sound capabilities, memory, and processing power of mobile devices are inferior to that of EGMs and personal computers. As a result, mobile wagering games typically have simple graphics, simple sound effects, and less exciting presentations than comparable wagering games played on EGMs or personal computers. Another downside to mobile gaming is that a player engaging in mobile gaming can be “on-the-go” and may be distracted and not paying complete attention to the wagering game. In other words, the player is not fully immersed in the gaming experience. Another downside is that players of mobile games often play alone and thus miss out on the social aspect of gaming (i.e., interacting with other gamers). Another downside to mobile gaming is that Internet or mobile network connections are sometimes poor, which results in slow load times or dropped signals (which are problematic for wager-based gaming). Another downside to mobile gaming is that mobile devices lack certain peripherals that enhance players' gaming experiences, such as a secondary display or “top box”, a joystick, a sound chair providing surround sound and tactile feedback, and the like.
Turning to online gaming, one benefit is that the growing prevalence of Internet connections makes it easy for players to access the web-based gaming establishment at a variety of locales. Another benefit is that the graphics capabilities, sound capabilities, memory, and processing power of most personal computers is usually superior to that of mobile devices, which enables the web-based gaming establishment to offer richer content than is typically offered on mobile devices.
One downside to online gaming is that a player engaging in online gaming may be distracted and not paying complete attention to the wagering game. In other words, since the player is playing on her personal computer and may be engaging in other activities while gaming (e.g., browsing the internet, editing a document, and the like), the player is not fully immersed in the gaming experience. Another downside is that players engaging in online gaming often play alone and thus miss out on the social aspect of gaming (i.e., interacting with other gamers). Another downside to online gaming is that Internet connections are not infallible, and may be poor or susceptible to dropping, which results in slow load times or dropped signals (which are problematic for wager-based gaming). Another downside to online gaming is that personal computers lack certain peripherals that enhance players' gaming experiences, such as a secondary display or “top box”, a joystick, a sound chair providing surround sound and tactile feedback, and the like.
Turning to land-based gaming, one benefit is that the graphics capabilities, sound capabilities, memory, and processing power of EGMs is typically superior to that of personal computers and mobile devices. As a result, EGMs typically provide wagering games having complex graphics and rich content. Another benefit to land-based gaming is that the typical player engaging in land-based gaming is fully immersed in the gaming experience, and may take advantage of the social aspect of gaming by interacting with other gamers. Another benefit to land-based gaming is that EGMs rarely have downtimes and are rarely out of service. Another benefit to land-based gaming is that EGMs may include a variety of peripherals that enhance players' gaming experiences, such as a secondary display or “top box”, a joystick, a sound chair providing surround sound and tactile feedback, and the like.
One downside to land-based gaming is that players must travel to a gaming establishment to engage in land-based gaming.
A need thus exists for gaming systems and methods that enable players to take advantage of the accessibility of mobile gaming while also reaping the benefits of the superior technology and experience offered by land-based and online gaming.